One against Each Other
by Neon Clouds
Summary: Mutiny, noun: an open rebellion against the proper authorities, especially by soldiers or sailors against their officers. Evil isn't the only side with a struggle between ranks.


**Yeah, yeah I know it's bad but 2 YEARS and I wanted to get SOMETHING UP. And by something I mean that first chapter of my newest multi chap. So I know you're all thinking What the heck, Neon. You haven't even finished Wish and you only have two chapters up of Untamed + Uncut, but I'm getting to it I've just been real busy. Lotta stuff to do but I promise I will start to work more and try to make the chapters better.**

**Also, I couldn't think of another title, so I'd love to get some title suggestions cuz this one really is just MEH.**

**Without further a due, my new MULTI!**

Finn's P.O.V

There was one single initiating crash that trembled against the castle ominously, undoing whatever calm had been retained in finding the rest of the group. Only Amanda and Maybeck were missing from the little meeting of us at the edge of Tomorrowland, but I was positive the latter had been surveying the area from Wayne's apartment. That left…

Charlene shot me a wicked stare, casting her eyes upon me as if to agree to my unspoken plea. Philby and Willa spoke to one another on the side, spewing facts and analysis at each other like bullets. Jess followed me as I turned on my heel and sprinted to Cinderella Castle.

"This isn't right. Nothing for months and now…this." She uttered to me, shaking despite the warm atmosphere, not to mention her thin black sweater. "And something just feels off, doesn't it?"

I nodded, though I couldn't tell whether it was for her or for myself. "This isn't right." I decided.

My feet felt heavy, tumbling towards the castle, rounding the grounds before finally coming to Escher's Keep.

"Locked, damn it." I muttered under my breath.

"Amanda!" Jess shouted up to the heavens, obviously concerned for her sister in every possibly meaning of the term.

I couldn't bring myself to turn in that direction, paralyzed in place. All I could do was stare up at the sky and pray we'd heard wrong and that nothing was wrong. But I knew that wasn't true because something is always wrong. I knew Jess had tensed beside me, held her breath, eyes burning trying not to look, heart aching trying not to imagine.

Above, the dusk had matured to a full black night, clearing way to stars that would never appear. Silence swept through the group as gently as the cool breeze of twilight, dancing wavelengths of cold over our skin so delicately it seemed to rise as soft tickle. Cold stone of the Cinderella Castle seeped through the layers, grazing against my back as we stood solemnly against it.

Jess banged on the wall uselessly, although it must have felt better to her than just than just to stand there and do nothing. Kicking, punching, screaming, she could've taken down an army of Pirates. Or two. But not a building.

As the others came around, Charlene apparently breaking up the feud between the two wonder twins and getting Maybeck to join us, the sudden banging on the hard wood on the door crashed over our gathering of six. Followed by a quick yelp, a short scream. Jess winced, breaking inside; I could tell. I had to force my eyes closed shut tightly, taking myself away from that place, going somewhere farther in the remoteness, or maybe farther inside myself.

Escher's Keep shouldn't be locked. I didn't even know it could be locked.

All I could really do was think about Amanda, wondering if she was okay, hoping, praying. Because it's getting harder to tell when there's something wrong or not –though more often than not, something's wrong. That was the rule, somehow unofficially, when it came to our little after-dark adventures. Never assume you imagined anything. Never assume it's okay, when it could be dangerous. Don't do anything stupid.

Amanda volunteered to go search the castle, claiming that it's practically the safe haven for us Keepers, it would probably be the first place O.T.'s would start to set us and strategize. Of course, I had tried to convince her to go with Jess to check out the commotion by Tom Sawyer's island, but she had somehow managed to sneak away from Jess at some point.

"What was so important that she had to go look in the castle for, Jess?"

Stubborn as she is, though I argued for a good long time, she didn't deter. We hadn't heard from her in several minutes, but I was none the wiser of what had happened until the crash sounded and Jess came flying in from the other direction. My mind was blank, and I couldn't think of a way to save her. This isn't right.

Jess was doubled over, hands pressed harshly over her ears, eyes not a peep open. She refused it, at least she wanted to. The 'younger sister' of the pair had been as well kept as she could manage just considering, but I could still feel her aching. Then she lurched with terror, guilt, shaking her head and staring back up at the towering structure helplessly, bottom lip quivering.

"I don't know. It's the wrong castle. This doesn't make sense." She was near tears

"What do you mean it's the wrong castle?" Philby interjected, "How could it be one of the other castles?"

Willa took Charlene by the arm, dragging her away into the dark. _She's Willa_, I couldn't help but think,_ she knows what she's doing. _Besides, I couldn't focus on her.

"Any other way in, Einstein?" I asked Philby.

"Not that I'm aware." That's a first.

"Did you see that?" Maybeck piped suddenly, head turned, facing the shadows. The artist, only he could see the things that nobody else noticed. Or imagine things that weren't there.

"What?"

"Movement, in the-"

The hidden door burst open forcibly, Amanda tumbling out into my arms. Tentatively, I pulled her closer to me, tightening my hold. Yet, instead of accepting the embrace, she pushed herself off of me. "Let go. I'm fine." There was that look in her eyes, some kind of power rising from inside her. Jess unsteadily fiddled with the end of her sleeve, glancing up at us expressionlessly.

"Finn, we have to go. Now." Philby said quickly, but not harshly. I understood his alarm to get away.

Amanda gazed up at the structure towering above us, nodding slowly towards the group. "Let's get out of here." She stated hoarsely, shoving the key into the pocket of her hoodie.

The thundering of synched footsteps boomed from behind us as we sprinted through the park, running as quickly as we possibly could towards anywhere secluded. Feeling my pocket, I was calmed tracing the outline of the fob through the cloth with my finger. I knew it was still there, we just needed to get somewhere they wouldn't find it when we were gone.

"Come on. This way." I hissed back to the group, as Charlene and Willa joined us, leading them off in another direction. It reassured me to hear the sound of their footsteps following my own. The responsibility of being their leader on my shoulders was a burden at times, but they needed me.

"Maybeck!" Charlene's shriek hardly carried to my eardrums over the sound of my own heartbeat in my ears. At the point I had turned around, I saw her grasping him harshly by the arm and tugging him to his feet, just barely escaping the grasp of the Green Army Men. They weren't shooting; they needed us for something.

"There's no way we'd be able to distance ourselves enough from them so that they can't follow us to wherever we're going to leave the fob. We need another plan." Philby shouted to me as he began to slowly catch up.

"Alright," I mumbled roughly, falling into step with him so that we ran right beside each other. In a low whisper, so that the Army Men weren't able to hear me, I said, "Take it. Take it as far as you can go and make sure that everyone crosses over. You hear me? Whether I'm there or not, just push it. Make sure they're safe. Make sure _everyone's _safe_._"

He stared back at me with such a startled expression, you would have thought I just told him to throw himself into a pit of flames. "I can't do that. Finn, there's no way we're going to leave you behind."

"Well, I'm counting on you to." I stated forcefully, covertly shoving the fob into his jacket pocket before turning around and running full force back towards the green terrors.

"Finn!" I heard Amanda shriek from behind me, pure panic and horror echoing in the shout like a knife through my heart. This was followed by the sound of footsteps running towards me, then a yelp, one of surprise and anger. I glanced back in time to watch Philby take hold of Amanda, arms wrapped around her waist firmly, and practically dragging her away kicking and screaming.

Without the heart to watch her in such a state of wounded betrayal, I turned back to the matter on hand. The vast mob of life-sized toy soldiers was nearing at a speed that seemed unfitting considering their very joints were made of plastic.

_Pure DHI…pure DHI…_

They're right in front of me. Twenty feet. Ten. Five. There was no collision; I passed right through them. Every cell of me was formed from absolute, impalpable light and I felt as though I possessed ultimate, untouchable power.

"This is gonna be fun." I muttered under my breath with a grin.

Philby's P.O.V

I wrestled with Amanda for a moment as she continued to fight my hold. She shouted profanities, cursed me, and swore she'd hurt me if I didn't let her go –and for a minute, I must admit, I truly believed her.

"Amanda, please quit being so difficult. I didn't want to leave him behind either but he told me to. All he wants is for you to be safe."

"Bullshit!" She yelled, still fussing as I held onto her with an iron grip. To tell the truth, I was struggling with her. Though I was undoubtedly stronger than her physically, her mindset was driven by deep affection –by _love-_ and that was something that I simply could not compete with.

"Amanda!" I tried as she pounded on my back, slamming her balled fists on me with great force. She really was a relentless little fighter.

"I hate you!" Amanda cried, elbowing me in the gut, causing my grasp to loosen enough for her to wiggle her way out.

Before I knew it, she had turned the corner, out of sight.

"Finn gonna kill you." Maybeck muttered.

"No, he's gonna protect her." Jess argued. "Come on."

There was something odd in her sudden change in mood. The immediate transition from worrying over Amanda to complete unconcern.

A couple minutes into the run, I turned to her. "Jess?"

"She's being hard-headed." She urged. "It's just how she is. Leave it."

"We have to find somewhere safe. We need to get out of here." Charlene stated quickly, taking off in the direction of the parking lot without any further indication of what she had in mind. If anything at all.

We ran after her, having the lack of any other option. In the stillness of the night, the five pairs of footsteps seemed to echo around us and consume the air, drowning out any other noise that might have been behind us.

I gave a quick glance at Jess and heaved a short sigh. The poor girl was near tears, pouting in a frightened way that seemed unfit for the face of the brave person I knew her to be. No mind reader was needed to know what she was thinking. We were all thinking it.

It hadn't been long before another sound accompanied our orchestra of footsteps. But this noise was not something very loud. It was strong, powerful, but not loud. I couldn't figure out exactly what it was, but it was familiar.

"Oh my god." Jess uttered, her voice branded with such a deep extent of horror that I hardly felt the need to turn around and see what had mortified her. "Run. Run!"

Out of pure human impulse, I glanced back to get a glimpse of the terrifying image.

With a stumbling start, she sprinted off as the rest of us followed without an objection. Despite her early start, Jess hadn't been able to keep at top pace before Charlene had run past, taking the lead. The athletic blonde had done her job of watching us over her shoulder from time to time and shouting encouraging words. Because nothing is more inspiring than hearing the words, "They're coming!"


End file.
